Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd Makes New Investment in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 59,101 shares of the airline’s stock, valued at approximately $1,751,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LUV. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. CVA Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines by 179.5% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, AM Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Southwest Airlines in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. 80.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LUV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, November 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $33.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southwest Airlines from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines from $28.25 to $31.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Southwest Airlines from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southwest Airlines has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 59,912,580 shares in the company, valued at $1,787,192,261.40. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Rakesh Gangwal bought 643,788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $29.98 per share, for a total transaction of $19,300,764.24. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,606,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,117,203.78. This trade represents a 21.73 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Stock Up 1.4 %

Southwest Airlines stock opened at $32.43 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company’s 50-day moving average is $30.67 and its 200-day moving average is $28.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.45 billion, a PE ratio of -463.29, a P/E/G ratio of 7.47 and a beta of 1.15. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $35.18.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 0.06%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 26th. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is -1,028.57%.

Southwest Airlines Company Profile

Southwest Airlines Co operates as a passenger airline company that provides scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated a total fleet of 817 Boeing 737 aircraft; and served 121 destinations in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as ten near-international countries, including Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos.